Committees approve statewide rate changes and multiple judicial budget closings; several enhancement requests scaled back

The Nevada Senate Committee on Finance and the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means closed multiple judicial branch budget items and approved statewide rate and fringe-benefit adjustments during a joint meeting on May 1, voting on dozens of decision units and enhancements across the judicial branch and other agencies.

The committees approved the statewide inflation decision unit (M100) — which updates internal-service rates such as personnel and payroll assessments, vehicle insurance and the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) rates — and the fringe benefits adjustments (M300) that incorporate PERS and other employer-side changes. Fiscal staff told the committees these adjustments reflect updated expense and utilization data and technical corrections.

Why it matters: The rate and fringe changes reallocate costs across state agencies and change the price of centrally provided services. Those decisions affect the budgets of courts and executive agencies and were tied to a broader set of judicial-branch closings that reduced or redirected several of the judicial branch’s requested increases.

Key outcomes at a glance

- Commission on Judicial Discipline: The committees voted to NOT approve a request for $95,702 in general fund appropriations over the 2025–27 biennium to increase salaries for three nonclassified positions (two senior associate general counsel positions and one management analyst position). Motion carried.

- Judicial Branch inflationary adjustments (major issue 1, decision units M110, M111, M112, M114, M115, M116): The committees declined several of the requested inflationary increases (e.g., M110, M111, M112, M115) and approved selected membership dues increases (M114). M116 (a biannual specialty court conference) had been withdrawn by the judicial branch and was not approved by staff. Motion carried as moved by committee members.

- Travel and training (major issue 2): The committees rejected some proposed travel increases, approved a revised (smaller) out-of-state travel allowance for Court of Appeals judges, and approved certain training and travel items with exclusions (notably excluding a large trial-court staff training request). Motion carried.

- Licenses and maintenance contracts (IT, major issue 3): The committees approved a reduced funding option (based primarily on invoice amounts provided to fiscal staff) for computer software and hardware license/maintenance contracts rather than the higher amounts requested by the judicial branch. Motion carried.

- IT requests (major issue 4): The committees approved three IT items: contract staffing to maintain legacy systems while modernization proceeds (E285), funding for a guardianship oversight portal (E301), and a net adjustment to allow the judicial branch’s IT unit to operate independently from the OCIO with offsetting reductions for services no longer provided by OCIO (E302). Motion carried.

- Judicial budget flexibility language: The committees approved continued language allowing limited transfers between judicial operating budget accounts (as was previously authorized by SB 511 in 2023) with quarterly reporting to the Interim Finance Committee. Motion carried.

- Judicial Department staff salaries: The committees voted not to approve the judicial branch’s larger proposed salary schedule (option 1) and instead approved a lower funding option (option 2) that funds salaries consistent with the amounts approved by the 2023 Legislature; the committees also did not approve the judicial branch’s proposed additional $1.3 million per year for an expanded compensation schedule. Motion carried.

- New positions: The committees approved several new or reclassified positions at amounts adjusted to legislatively approved levels (for example, two Supreme Court marshal positions and one specialty courts support position were approved at lower, legislative-comparable salary levels). The committees rejected the conversion of seven contract IT staff (previously funded with ARPA) into permanent nonclassified positions. Motions carried.

Procedural notes and next steps

Committee members repeatedly authorized fiscal staff to make technical adjustments where needed and requested enhanced reporting or interim approvals in a few cases (for example, reserves for the DMV transformation effort and quarterly reports from the Supreme Court on intra-branch transfers). Several items the judicial branch had withdrawn were not approved. The committees also indicated an intent letter directing OCIO to provide a status update on methodology changes to its rates.

Ending

The committees concluded the day's closings after taking numerous votes and instructing staff to prepare language and technical adjustments for the budget bill and the Appropriations Act.